Kris

Forgot to add that I must have some eggnog during the Christmas season. Preferably homemade. I just made a 1/2 gallon of spiked eggnog this afternoon. Yummy.

Yes, in recent years I've made sure to tell him that I've sampled his dish, I tell him it was good and he leaves me alone at that point. I don't know what type of chicken he's making for Friday's office party. But does it really matter? I know for darned sure that I won't be eating it. I don't know what type of emphasis hygiene/sanitation is in culinary schools. But that habit is one that he hasn't stopped in all the years I've known him (14). So I doubt he's changing any time soon.

It was alright I suppose. I prefer pork Italian sausage for my sausage and peppers and I also like mine in sauce. His was dry with just sauteed onions and peppers. But the thought of him scratching and digging was enough for me NOT to enjoy it. I'm telling you, it was like something out of a movie. I'm sitting there with the plate on the table and he's standing over me asking me if I tried the sausage and peppers yet. I reply that I hadn't, so he just stands there hovering over me with a piercing gaze, waiting patiently until I finally (and hesitantly) put a piece of sausage and a few pieces of onion/pepper on my fork and into my mouth. It was a very surreal moment. LOL Funny thing is, he attended the French Culinary Institute in NYC and has taken exotic culinary trips around the world to Thailand, Italy/Tuscany, China and Brazil. He frequents gourmet shops and buys expensive cooper cookware and capers for $30 a pound. But he just has that nasty habit. Our 2005 holiday office party is next Friday and he's making some sort of chicken dish. Needless to say, I will NOT be partaking of it.

I've been to many a potluck over the years and have encountered some truly yucky food and situations: At an office holiday party, a male co-worker who is mentally challenged and has a hygiene/odor problem, brought two pans of baked ziti that no one touched. Perhaps it's because it smelled like he used limburger cheese instead of mozzarella. He ate ziti for lunch for a week after that. My cousin's going away party featured a yucky looking, brownish dip made of eggplant. No one touched it and the woman who made it looked kind of dissapointed that no one ate it. I bravely tried it and was sorry that I did. At another holiday office party potluck, an Indian (from India) co-worker made a rice pudding that no one touched. A lot of my co-workers were scornful of her because she was vegetarian who ate all sorts of "exotic" Indian dishes for her daily lunch that they weren't familiar with. I tried the rice pudding and it wasn't bad, just a little sweet and too much cardamom for my taste. There are always office potlucks and if I know that a specific person made a dish, I'll avoid it. Some people are just nasty and don't wash their hands when going to the bathroom or in the case of one guy who fancies himself a gourmet chef - he's always digging in his nose or scratching his backside. I always avoid his food at the office potluck, but one year he cornered me. He made sausage and peppers (using a variety of chicken and turkey sausages) and stood right near me to ensure that I had some on my plate. Instead of me being able to discreetly tuck it into my napkin once he was out of my sight, I was forced to taste some as he hovered over me. I wasn't too happy about that.

All I do is melt a 10 ounce jar of grape jelly under low heat in a saucepan. Once sufficiently melted and bubbly, I add a 12 ounce jar of Heinz chili sauce. I add homemade meatballs and simmer. Walla! I've tried it with cocktail weenies once and I prefer the meatballs better. It's always the first thing to go at my annual Halloween party. I've never told anyone the secret except my husband and my girlfriend who begged me for the "recipe." I know that this sauce is scorned by the culinary elite the world over. But I sheepishly admit that I love it. And it seems like my guests do too.

Black cake (West Indian fruitcake) Pasteles (Puerto Rican version of a tamale) Coquito (Puerto Rican egg nog) Christmas Day brunch at my parents' house

When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was a big deal at my Aunt Belle's house (paternal grandmother's sister). It was always very exciting because we'd get tons of gifts from the adults. We stayed up past midnight and were allowed to open the gifts we received that evening. The meal was always pretty much the same - turkey, dressing, ham, mac & cheese, stringbeans, etc. Aunt Belle has passed on, along with all of the rest of the older folks. But the Christmas Eve tradition still continues. For the last several years, my aunt (father's sister) has been hosting Christmas Eve. This year we're doing a seafood & pasta menu. On Christmas Day, my sisters and I were allowed to open the gifts from our parents. We'd get up very early and find lots of presents under the tree. Even when we hit our late teens/early 20's, my mother & father would still get us lots of gifts. As I got older, I'd know some of the gifts I was getting because I'd go shopping with my mom for my younger sisters. And she'd let me pick out some of the gifts at that time. There were still a few surprises under the tree for me though. I could always expect to get some pajamas or a house robe though. In 1987, my mom started the tradition of hosting a Christmas day brunch. She'd have a little gift for each of us at our place setting and we'd enjoy belgian waffles, sausage, home fries, chicken and broccoli pockets, fruit salad and a dessert of some kind. In recent years, I've been making my sour cream coffee cake for dessert. Sometimes a new item or two is added to the menu too. Several years ago we decided that it was too burdensome for the adults to buy gifts for each other. So we have a Secret Santa, where we draw names on Thanksgiving. We exchange our Secret Santa gifts during Christmas brunch and my niece & nephew open their tons of gifts. Christmas dinner is no big deal since we're usually stuffed from brunch. Some years I've cooked a light dinner for hubby and me, other years I haven't. I'm 35 now, married and my husband and mother-in-law participate in my family's Christmas traditions since they don't have any other family. Hubby and I don't have a child yet but when and if we do, I don't expect the Christmas tradition to change much. And I don't want it to either.

I've already baked my fruitcakes (black cake) for this year. I have 12 of them sitting in my kitchen and 11 of them are already spoken for.

Glad it worked out for you!

For Christmas time, I must have black cake (West Indian fruitcake). Conquito (Puerto Rican version of egg nog) is also high on the list. My mother-in-law makes quarts of it every year and usually gives hubby and me a 1/2 gallon of it. And I only drink a cup or two because she makes it so strong with rum. But it's not the holiday season without it. LOL For Thanksgiving, I must have homemade baked macaroni & cheese as well as collard greens. I hate articles like that, no we shouldn't be eating like that every single day. But eating those those fatty, rich, sweet and fat laden foods are what help make the holidays special. And create fond memories that last a lifetime. I know I'd get sick of black cake if I ate it every day. But eating it for a few days out of the month of December makes me savor it even more.

I think that any legitimate business should have a website these days. Even if it's a small mom & pop store - a simple homepage with basic information about the company's location, store hours, type of merchandise, maybe a little about the history of the company is enough. Restaurants without websites really irk me; especially if it's a new place and I'm looking to check out the menu. In general, I'm turned off by companies that don't have a website. I have actually selected do business with one company vs. its competitor because company A had a website and company B did not. So I think this restauranteur is being shortsighted by not trying to capitalize on potential clients, regardless of where they come from (word of mouth, internet, etc.)

Glad you came up with something you could work with! Darn those cracks though! When they're small, I'm able to smooth over the crack on a frozen cheesecake. When the cheesecake is thawed out, the crack is gone.

P.S. - I've already gotten a head start on my Christmas baking - I've made 12 fruitcakes already - the West Indian black cake style, not the regular English style fruitcake. 10 of them are already spoken for!

Freezing cheesecakes is a wonderful, wonderful thing! No recipe adjustments are necessary, but if you're putting a fruit or praline topping I would do that just before serving. Just freeze the cheesecake plain, without toppings. After baking, once the cheesecake is fully cooled to room temp, I remove the ring from the springform pan and stick the cake into the freezer unwrapped. Once it's frozen solid, I gently pry the springform pan bottom away from the crust and wrap the cheesecake securely in aluminum foil. (It's a lot easier to pry the springform pan bottom off if you spray the pan with Pam before adding the crust and batter). The cheesecake can be frozen up to two months - although mine never last that long. When you thaw it, you can do so overnight in the fridge. Although admittedly, I've thawed cheesecakes on the counter in a few hours. Sometimes some condensation will form on top of the cheesecake, but that's no big deal. I just take a paper towel and dab it away. Being able to make cheesecakes in advance is a real time saver when I'm doing my holiday cooking. I already have my Thanksgiving cheesecakes done (one pumpkin, one sweet potato). All I have to do is thaw and box up! And they're ready to go. No change in the taste either...if you wrap it securely in foil this won't be a problem either.

I'm editing the above recipe a little bit... I made the pumpkin cheesecake today and it came out great - no cracks or deep fissures in the middle. Only thing is, it baked faster than what I'm accustomed to. So I'd amend the baking time at 250 F to read 55-60 minutes instead of 65-70 (10 minute difference). Depending on your oven, I guess the time can vary by this much. You can always add time if the cake is too jiggly in the center. But you don't want to overbake it.

I'd try new stuff at Wendy's and Chipotle. I detest Taco Bell.

I've made dulce de leche this way: I place 14 ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk in a dutch oven, cover them with water, bring them to a boil and once it's at a rolling boil (under a medium flame)- boil for 2 1/2 hours. I check the pot periodically to ensure that the cans stay covered with water and I keep the lid slightly askew while boiling (not tightly fitted on the pot). After the 2 1/2 hours is up, turn off the heat and let the cans cool to room temperature in the water. I've heard of the horror stories that cans can explode by doing this, but I've never had a problem. *knock on wood* And I don't do it that often. Now...when you open the can of milk, it will be a beautiful caramel brown and very thick. To spread it onto a cake I add a splash of vanilla extract to the can and stir it a bit, just to loosen the thickness up slightly. Do NOT overstir the dulce de leche or else it will be too thin and runny to use as a cake filling. If you do not overstir it, it will be just fine in between cake layers. Just pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the bottom layer, put the dulce de leche in the middle and add the top layer. I haven't had any problems doing it this way.

I don't like the blue M&M's either. I prefer the old tan ones. I think the color blue has very limited use when it comes to food (blueberries are an exception). I don't like the appearance of Baba Ghanoush either or the coconut-pecan icing used for German Chocolate Cake. They both look nauseating to me.

Anyone making fruitcake for this holiday season?

I'd definitely stay away from Thanksgiving fare. By that time, I think most people are tuckered out from turkey. I like the idea of a brunch though. I host an annual Mother's Day brunch and I serve: Creme brulee french toast (you can prep the night before and bake on Sunday morning for 35 mins.) Fresh fruit salad Assorted quiche (also can be prepped and cooked in advance. Freeze until you need it. Just thaw overnight in the fridge and heat up on Sunday) Sour cream coffee cake or a blueberry streusel coffee cake (both can be baked ahead of time and frozen) Sausage Home fries Freshly whipped cream & maple syrup Coffee Tea Juice Mimosas One year I had a lox platter with onions and capers, along with mini bagels (I live in NYC, so I have access to freshly made bagels. My local bagel shop will do minis for you if you call a day ahead), assorted flavored cream cheeses, butter and preserves.

I already made plenty of chicken stock to use for my Thanksgiving cooking. Even though we're going to my parent's house for dinner, my husband expressed the desire to come home to a meal too. So the stock is all divvied up in containers in my freezer. I'm going to bring a container to my mom too. Tomorrow I'm going to make 2 sweet potato cheesecakes, a pumpkin cheesecake and a regular cheesecake and those will go in the freezer. I think I'm even going to get a head start on my Christmas fruitcakes...I'll bake them tomorrow and bathe them in my spirited rum and port concoction. Then they'll be nice and ready come December! LOL

Okay, so it's going to be sweet potato cheesecake and pumpkin cheesecake to bring to my parent's house. My mom made the request last week. Also, I'll probably make hubby a pecan pie, even though pies aren't my forte. If anyone has a killer pecan pie recipe, please share.

I see that Sandra Lee has an equally evil twin.

My pumpkin cheesecake recipe: 1 ¼ cups gingersnap cookie crumbs (6 ¼ ounces) 1 tbsp. sugar 4 tbsp. melted margarine (2 ounces) Three 8 ounce packages softened cream cheese (24 ounces) 1 ¼ cups sugar (8 ¾ ounces) 3 large eggs 2 tbsp. cornstarch 1 ½ tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice 1 ½ cups canned Libby 100% pumpkin (12 ounces) ½ cup sour cream (4 ¼ ounces) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a shallow pan full of hot water on the lower rack in the oven. Combine gingersnap crumbs & 1 tbsp. sugar with melted margarine. Press mixture firmly into a well greased 9” springform pan (use cooking spray to grease pan). Bake for 8 minutes. Remove and cool slightly. Turn oven heat to 425 F degrees. In a mixer bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time – stirring mixture gently. Add cornstarch, vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin & sour cream and mix until well blended. Pour mixture into greased springform pan and place pan into 425 F degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees for 65-70 minutes. Turn oven off. Leave cheesecake in oven for 30 minutes. Loosen the sides of cake from rim with a knife then let it remain in the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven, but do not remove springform ring until cake is fully cooled to room temperature. While the cake is cooling, be sure to keep it away from drafts. Once cooled to room temperature, remove the springform ring and chill until firm (preferably overnight) in the refrigerator. Garnish as desired. NOTES: When beating the cheesecake mixture, take care not to overbeat or beat too vigorously. Otherwise you will incorporate too many air bubbles into the cake when baking, which may cause it to crack and fall. Also, the cake will be done when you see the center of the cake “jiggle” a little bit. The flavor of cheesecake improves with age so it’s best to make it a day or two in advance of when you plan to serve it. **************************************************************** I use margarine instead of butter because I find that the crust made with butter gets too crispy. This cake is very good but needs to be handled with "kid gloves" since overbaking it, beating the batter too vigorously, letting it cool near a draft or otherwise mishandling it will result in deep cracks in the top of the cake. You can also bake it in a bain marie if you'd like.

I use a combination of Dede Wilson's recipe and "Kaye's Buttercream" from the Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook. I liked elements of each recipe - so I combined them together and came up with something that works for me. I also use COLD butter, not room temperature like most IMBC recipes state. IMBC takes more time than SMBC, but I prefer the way it handles better and I prefer the taste. Question: When adding nut pastes to the buttercream, do you have to lessen the sugar amount of the IMBC? How many of you actually add nut pastes to IMBC? I have a can of Hazelnut praline paste that I've been wanting to add to a batch of IMBC I already made. But I'm hesitant since I don't know how it's going to taste and with what cake flavors I should use that icing with.